Well, the cold is here. Surprisingly sunny, yes, but still cold. I don't like it. Not one bit. They say the weekend is supposed to be better. We'll see.

As I sit here waiting to go teach young ones taekwondo, I am struck once again at the amount of responsibility I have to them. There is such...overwhelming potential! The oldest and highest ranking ones, Max and Andrew, are taking on the roles of assistant teachers, and I think the kids identify with them more than they can me, simply because I'm so much older than everyone. They are both incredibly talented. Given enough time and practice, combined with desire and the right instruction, I believe the both of them can be martial arts giants! They have strong, quick limbs, and hearts that won't back down from challenges, but more than anything, they are clever.

They say an assassin's greatest weapon is not anything his hands can make, but his mind. This is true for more things in life than one might think. The body and mind are meant to complement each other. The body should be able to do what the mind can imagine, and the mind should practically conceive plans and actions in advance. In sports like football, soccer, rugby, and baseball, the bodies are used, but only in conjunction with a finely tuned mind called a team.
In martial arts, one often gets wrapped up in the flashy stuff. High kicks, cool spins, and hard hits are all integral, but the fighter who wins is the smarter one.
For years now, the element of combat that I have worshiped and held higher than all others is speed. Power is only so good if you can hit a target, and if not, then strength is altogether useless. Now I begin to understand what Sun Tzu meant when he said things like "Know thine enemy." If a fighter can understand his opponent, then no matter how fast he is, the opponent can be outsmarted.
Personally, I think that the minds that can think like this in combat are exceptional. Sparring and fighting are, more often than not, affairs of instinct and reflex...

But I'm close to out of time. More on this later!